Daniel Smith is an Associate Professor of Public Budgeting and Financial Management at NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He studies state government budgeting and financial management. His research focuses on the effects of state fiscal institutions, especially balanced budget requirements, and the implications of how states accumulate and use fund balances in state rainy day funds, unemployment trusts, and pension funds. His research appears in Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Public Administration Review, Public Budgeting & Finance, and Public Choice, among others. In addition, he is co-author of Financial Management for Public, Health, and Not-for-Profit Organizations (Pearson Prentice Hall, 4th edition), co-edits the Budget and Finance section of the Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public Policy (Taylor & Francis, 3rd edition), and is a member of three journal editorial boards.

Professor Smith serves on the Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council (GASAC), which is responsible for consulting with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) on technical issues. For four years he was on the Board of Directors of the New York University Federal Credit Union–an independent, federally regulated financial institution–where he was also Treasurer and Chair of the Assets and Liabilities Management Committee. In 2011, he was voted "Professor of the Year" by Wagner students. He holds a Ph.D. in public administration from the School of Public and International Affairs at The University of Georgia.